Kashmir is a heaven in the world not only for its natural beauty in the form of lakes, valley and meadows, etc. but also for the handicraft prepared by Kashmiri Artisans. Among all handicrafts, Pashmina shawl is one of the prominent handicrafts in India. Pashmina, the name comes from the Persian word Pashm which means “Wool” and the meaning of Pashmina is “Made from Wool”. It is known for its fineness, warmth and softness in fashion. Pashmina shawls are developed by hand spinning and hand weaving to give them long life which may go up to 25 years. Pashmina shawl has also received Geographic Indication in India.
The Pashmina wool comes from different breeds of Cashmere goat; such as the changthangi or pashmina goat from the Changthang Plateau in Ladakh region, malra from the Kargil area in the Ladakh region, the chegu from Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayas of northern India, and the chyangara or Nepalese pashmina goat from Nepal. Cashmere wool is hand spun and woven to produce the pure pashmina shawl. Pashmina fabric is used as material to the variant of the Kashmir shawl which is made from it. Pashmina has occupied a unique position among all animal fibre because of its lightness, handle, warmth and ability to absorb dyes and moisture.
History
Woollen shawls made in Kashmir have been mentioned in Afghan manuscript around 3rd century BC and the 11th century AD. The founder of the Pashmina industry is known to be the 15th century ruler of Kashmir, Zayn-ul-Abidin, who introduced weavers from Central Asia. There are also sources that claimS that Pashmina was brought in by Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani who arrived in Kashmir from Persia with about 700 craftsmen accompanying him. Presently in India, Pashmina fibre is mostly used for the manufacture of shawls, mainly in Kashmir Valley. Most of the Pashmina products manufactured are export-oriented and realize very high price. Ladies shawls that are uniquely designed and hand-embroidered may fetch more than 10k in India, and much higher prices in the international market.
This craft is a source of livelihood for many Kashmir artisans. 20–24 steps are followed by artisans to make A perfect pashmina shawl. Changpa tribe who sell the raw pashm to the market who are not as skilled as Kashmiri artisans. Middlemen who sell these raw pashm and Artisans buy from them. Artisans after buying raw pashm follow some basic processes like Clean raw pashm fibre, comb the fibre, segregate it, hand spun & then set up into wraps and then put up it on the handloom. Artisans then weave the yarns and transform into the luxurious pashmina shawls.
The Pashmina shawls are made from 70% pashmina and 30% silk fibre. Artisan also manufactures Pashmina shawls with unique embroidery patterns like sozni embroidery, Aari embroidery, Kantha embroidery, Tilla embroidery and kalamkari embroidery. There were a lot of designs & patterns that were woven on the Pashmina shawls. The most popular ones include the buti, buta, buta- buti, khatrast, badam/ ambi/ kairi, lahariya, shikargah, zanjeer, hashiya, cypress & bouquets. It consists of mixing hand-painted art with innovative decoration and outlining beautiful floral patterns on the pashminas. Handcrafted Pashmina is expensive for the reason that it has always been a very laborious work and the number of man-hours put in through all the stages.
Handloom department, handicraft department, Handloom development corporation, Ministry of textile and private traders are formulated under the central government of India and Jammu and Kashmir state government for the production to trade of Pashmina. These offices promote this craft using different mediums like exhibitions, showrooms, door to door trade and online. The government has also worldwide presence in their showroom, emporiums and exhibitions stalls. This craft is facing competition from machine-spun Pashmina yarn. However, the study reveals that the overall quality of hand spun and hand woven Pashmina shawls is far better than machine spanned shawls. Export promotion of this craft has a vast scope which can be improved by filling the gap between artisans and Market linkages.
Pashmina is one of the most pursued craft during the winter season. It spells royalties and luxury. Kashmiri Artisans who are engaged in Pashmina; manufacture Shawl from taking out raw pashm from goat to finishing stage which is source of livelihood for them. Government is putting efforts to sustain this art but still there needs a lot of improvement in the market linkage, capacity building and avoiding competition from the machine-made Pashmina Shawls.
